Your Right to Know: Ultraprocessed Foods 101

What's the difference between processed and ultraprocessed food?

Most food processing helps make food safer or more convenient - like pasteurizing milk or freezing vegetables. Ultraprocessing is different. It typically involves breaking foods down into isolated components, then recombining them with industrial ingredients to create highly profitable products engineered to trigger cravings and override natural satiety signals.

Isn't it obvious which food is ultraprocessed?

Not necessarily. While some UPFs are obvious - like soft drinks or instant noodles - others masquerade as healthy choices. If the ingredient list is long and includes items you wouldn't find in a home kitchen, it's likely ultraprocessed. In Western countries, UPFs now make up over 50% of total daily calorie intake.

Are the 'healthy' foods you buy secretly ultra-processed?

They could be. Many products marketed as healthy are among the most highly processed foods available. Plant-based meat alternatives, protein bars, breakfast cereals, and "low-fat" products often contain numerous industrial ingredients. Even products labeled "natural" can be ultraprocessed. Marketing terms like "whole grain," "all natural," or "no artificial flavors" don't tell the whole story about how processed a food really is.

How UPFs impact your body and brain

The global shift to ultra-processed foods has triggered an unprecedented health crisis. Diet is now the leading cause of death worldwide, with UPFs as a primary driver. UPFs are now definitively linked to our most common and severe diseases: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. But the damage goes far beyond these familiar concerns. UPFs disrupt hormones, leading to infertility and reproductive disorders. They devastate sleep quality, compromise immune function, and fuel chronic inflammation throughout the body. These foods are also linked to autoimmune conditions, digestive disorders, and skin problems that many people don't realize stem from their diet.

Even more alarming is their impact on the brain. UPFs literally alter brain structure and function, shrinking the hippocampus (our memory center) and disrupting neural pathways. Studies show that high UPF consumption increases risk of cognitive decline by 28% and accelerates brain aging. These effects are particularly concerning for children and adolescents, whose developing brains are especially vulnerable to nutritional insults.

The connection between food and wellbeing 

Research has established clear links between diet quality and mental health outcomes. Multiple large-scale studies show that people who eat primarily whole foods have a 25-35% lower risk of depression than those consuming mostly ultraprocessed foods. The mechanism is biological: whole foods provide essential nutrients required for neurotransmitter production and proper brain function, while UPFs can disrupt the gut-brain axis, a key pathway in mental health. This disruption affects mood regulation, stress response, and cognitive function. Clinical studies consistently demonstrate that improving diet quality, particularly by reducing UPF consumption, can lead to measurable improvements in mental health outcomes.

Why are UPFs so addictive?

Ultraprocessed foods are scientifically engineered to override your body's natural appetite controls. They deliver precisely calibrated combinations of sugar, salt, and fat that trigger intense pleasure responses in the brain, similar to addictive drugs. Their highly refined ingredients bypass normal digestive signals, leading to overconsumption before you feel full. This isn't accidental - it's by design, and the story of how our food system became so deliberately addictive is one of the most troubling chapters in modern food history.

How did our food get this way?

It's no coincidence that ultraprocessed foods hook us like cigarettes - they were engineered by the same addiction scientists. When Big Tobacco bought up food companies in the 1980s, they applied their expertise in creating irresistible products. The result? Foods precisely designed to trigger dopamine responses similar to addictive drugs, using exact combinations of sugar, salt, and fat that maximize cravings. These foods break down and absorb so quickly that your body's "full" signals can't keep up, while industrial additives are specifically designed to keep you coming back for more.

How does choosing real food heal more than just your body?

When you choose minimally processed whole foods instead of UPFs, you're not just supporting your physical health - you're protecting your brain's capacity to think clearly and make good decisions. Research shows that people who primarily eat whole foods have better emotional regulation, sharper cognitive function, and greater capacity for complex problem-solving. This creates a positive feedback loop: better food choices enable better thinking, which in turn supports better choices across all areas of life. Additionally, choosing real food helps heal our relationship with the natural world. When we eat food that's closer to its natural state, we develop a deeper appreciation for the intricate web of life that sustains us.

Breaking the cycle: How better food enables better decisions

UPFs can impair the very brain functions we need to make healthy choices, creating a destructive cycle. But this works in reverse too: reducing UPF consumption improves mood stability, mental clarity, and impulse control. Studies show even small reductions in UPFs can lead to measurable improvements in decision-making capacity within weeks. Better food enables better choices, creating an upward spiral of wellbeing.

How can I avoid UPF?

Start by focusing on whole, minimally processed foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes when possible. When buying packaged foods, read ingredient lists carefully - if they're long or contain unfamiliar industrial ingredients, it's likely ultraprocessed. But be aware: some UPFs are marketed as healthy and can be hard to identify without deeper knowledge of food processing methods and ingredients.

Reading labels: What to look for

Industrial ingredients hide behind familiar-sounding names, while others that sound artificial might actually be minimally processed. Key red flags include modified starches, protein isolates, emulsifiers, and artificial sweeteners. But the complexity of modern food processing means even savvy shoppers can find it difficult to consistently identify UPFs.

Making the transition: Simple steps to start

In today's busy world, most of us need convenient food options - and that's okay. Start where you can: replace the most obvious UPFs in your diet with minimally processed alternatives. When time allows, prepare simple meals from basic ingredients. When you need convenience foods (and we all do), look for products with ingredients you recognize. Every small change matters, and you shouldn't feel guilty about needing practical solutions for your real life.

The modern food system has made it nearly impossible for even savvy consumers to consistently identify ultraprocessed foods. Our new Non-UPF Verified program, launching soon, provides a clear, science-based standard to empower informed choices. This groundbreaking verification ensures foods meet rigorous criteria for metabolic nourishment and cognitive support. By verifying truly nourishing options, we aim to make the healthier choice the easier choice — for everyone.

While individual food choices matter, the challenges of UPFs can't be solved through consumer action alone. We need systematic changes that make truly nourishing food more accessible to everyone. The Non-UPF Verified program will help create market clarity and support food manufacturers to produce healthier options, making it easier for all of us to choose foods that support human and planetary wellbeing.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Ultraprocessed foods are not just a personal health issue — they erode the cognitive and emotional foundations necessary for making decisions that affect not only ourselves but the entire living world. By reducing reliance on UPFs, we protect our brains, enhance emotional resilience, and create an upward spiral of wellbeing that reaches every part of life. This is about more than food. It’s about reclaiming the capacity to think clearly, act compassionately, and participate fully in the interconnected web of life.tion

Launched by the Non-GMO Project, under the umbrella of our Food Integrity Collective, Non-UPF Verified is a continuation of our non-profit organization's commitment to informed choice in service of a food system that nourishes life. When we began our work on GMOs in 2007, many said building and protecting a non-GMO supply chain was impossible. Today, the Non-GMO Project’s Butterfly is one of the most trusted food labels in the world, representing more than 63,000 verified products and $47 billion in annual sales.

With Non-UPF Verified, we’re tackling an even deeper challenge. The science is clear: ultraprocessed foods not only threaten human health and cognition but also undermine the very foundations of thriving ecosystems. Just as we successfully brought stakeholders together to transform the marketplace around GMOs, we're now inviting shoppers, brands, retailers and health care practitioners to join us in reimagining what's possible when it comes to how our food is processed. Our new program will bring clarity to a complex issue, setting a rigorous yet achievable standard for metabolically nourishing foods. 

As we’ve always said: Together we can protect a safe, healthy food supply for future generations.